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 Plan for Success

You Can Deal With It
Great resource for the basics of financial aid.

Loan Repayment Estimator
Calculate and determine the best loan repayment option for you.

Budgeting Strategies
How to create and stick-to a budget.

More Money Tips from College Foundation of NC

 Know Your Loan Dept

Many of today's borrowers are struggling to make their payments and they may not be getting the help they need. It helps to understand repayment and how to manage your loans for your own situation. Here are three basic steps to manage your federal student loans and avoid default.

Step 1: Know who and how much you owe
Use to determine what you owe and to whom. tracks all outstanding federal student loans until they are paid in full, which allows borrowers to see exactly how much they owe and to whom.

Step 2: Select a repayment plan
There are lots of repayment options—Standard, Graduated, Income-Based, Income-Contingent, and Extended. To find the plan that best fits your situation, select a plan for each of your lenders/servicers and calculate the monthly payments.

1. List all of your lenders; list all of your loans with each lender by loan type. (If you have multiple federal loans it may be helpful to have them on the same repayment plan.)
2. Use a calculator to run the numbers on each repayment plan for each of your loans.
3. Look at the monthly payments. Which plan can you afford? Remember, the lower your payments now, the more interest you'll pay in the long run.
4. Talk to your lenders or servicers. If your current plan isn't a good fit, ask how to switch to a plan that works better for your budget.

Step 3: Stay on top of your loans
Borrowers can stay on top of their loans by keeping track of who and how much they owe. Keep in touch with your lenders or servicers and let them know if your name, address, or telephone number changes, so they can stay in touch. Borrowers should also reconsider their repayment plan if their payment is too high. Talk to your lenders or servicers if you're having trouble making payments. You may qualify for a deferment or forbearance. There are many options available if your payment plans or due dates aren't working for you.

What Borrowers Can Do If They Default
If borrowers default on their loans, they still have options.

Loan Rehabilitation: Borrowers can rehabilitate their loan by making nine full payments within 20 days of their due dates over a 10-month period. Payments secured through wage garnishment do not count. Advantages of rehabilitation include:

Loans will no longer be considered in default status.
The default status reported to the credit bureau will be deleted.
Borrowers will be eligible for the same benefits available on the loans before the loans defaulted, including Title IV eligibility.
Wage garnishment ends and income tax refunds are no longer withheld.

Know Your Loan Debt.pdf